


The pause before the fall

by dotfic



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-01
Updated: 2010-08-01
Packaged: 2017-10-12 20:26:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/128713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dotfic/pseuds/dotfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec decided he'd better go with the flow, because who knows if this would be happening if they weren't dangling together two feet off the floor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The pause before the fall

**Author's Note:**

> no spoilers for any particular episode. Written for the prompt _face: jawline_.

"Stop," Eliot's voice snapped in Alec's ear, and Parker's gloved fingers twitched, did something to the line, and their descent jerked to a halt, leaving Alec and Parker dangling two feet off the floor of the vault.

"What?" Alec whispered, sharp. This was not part of the plan, that plan they'd gone over three times. He'd even made an actual _flow chart_.

Parker's face looked pale beneath the black wool cap she wore as her mouth pressed into a tight line. "The weight sensors."

"In the floor," Eliot said over the earbud. "They aren't off yet."

"They aren't off? How could they not be off?" Alec said. "Did you do everything I told you?"

"Yes," Eliot said. "I did everything you told me. It's taking some time."

Alec wondered not for the first time why he was the one sliding down a rappelling line while Eliot was the one doing the security tech on this one, then remembered it had been his idea.

It was stuffy in the vault, the air smelling of metal and cleaning solution, and his black pants and stretchy shirt were warm, and his wool cap made his forehead itch. Sweat tickled the back of Alec's neck, Parker's body radiating heat beneath her skin-hugging, dark cat burglar get-up, their harnesses holding them close. She wore powder-scented deodorant.

"So..." Alec said, his nose almost bumping Parker's.

"So," she said, like they were waiting at a bus stop, her breath against his face.

A minute crawled by, and another. "Eliot?" Alec's voice came out surprisingly tight, a little wobbly.

"Working on it, shutup," Eliot's voice said in his ear.

"You have to bypass the main controls for the --"

"I know, Hardison."

Alec glanced at Parker. Her nose wrinkled up, her eyes narrowing at him a fraction. "Why're you looking at me like that?"

"You're tense," she said, as they swayed slightly on the zip line.

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are." She leaned in closer so their foreheads were almost touching. "Why are you so tense?"

He swallowed. "No reason."

One the one hand, being right where he was now? Awesome. On the other, damn right he was tense, all too aware of Parker's body, every point where it touched his. This kind of crap probably never happened to Batman, if Catwoman was all up in his space. Cool, he had to be cool.

Another minute went by. Parker puffed out a breath to move a strand of hair that fell over her nose, and that tickled Alec's. He turned his head and sneezed.

That was when he felt it, the soft brush of Parker's lips against his jaw. Possibly she'd done that by accident, lurched forward when he sneezed -- okay no, not by accident because her mouth didn't move away, he felt her lips move along his jaw, small, quick kisses.

"Um, Parker...are you..."

She made a muffled shushing noise before the tip of her tongue touched wet against his stubble for a second. Alec decided he'd better go with the flow, because who knows if this would be happening if they weren't dangling together two feet off the floor, sweaty and their hearts going a little fast, or if it would ever happen again.

Parker's other hand moved up to his face, her gloves a cooler touch against his skin than her mouth. She kissed his chin, a quick, light press of her lips, then started to kiss along his left jaw. He let go of the line to hover his palms over her shoulders, and when she didn't seem to mind that, he lightly gripped them as her mouth reached below his ear, lips going warm and slow, her tongue dipping into the hollow. Despite the sweaty stuffiness of the vault, he shivered.

Alec so did _not_ want to make the wrong move here, and panicking didn't seem like a great idea either. Parker was right about people and locks -- but she could get him to open by barely stirring an eyelash. It was almost embarrassing, especially when they were dangling on a line two feet above a vault floor.

She stopped kissing him, drew back, and look at him.

"Hi," he said cautiously.

Her face didn't look so pale anymore, cheeks a little flushed. "Hi," she said, her head tilting to the side. A tiny half-smile touched her face.

Because he really had no idea what else to do, he leaned in and kissed her on the jaw, her skin soft over the bone beneath. She didn't move, and he stayed there, mouth millimeters from her, his forehead against the side of her head, her hair getting in his eyes.

"Guys, what're you waiting for? I said, the weight sensors are off," Eliot's voice sounded loud in Alec's ear.

Parker briskly moved her hand, releasing the brake on the line, and they dropped to the floor.


End file.
